Investment Principles from the Greatest Investors

🌐📚 Benjamin Graham

Adequate Diversification

There is a close logical connection between the concept of a safety margin and the principle of diversification. Even wi...

Read More →
💰📚 Benjamin Graham

Price-to-Book Criterion

Current price should not be more than 1.5 times the book value last reported. A moderately low ratio of price to book va...

Read More →
📉📚 Benjamin Graham

Sell When Overvalued

The investor should sell when his stock has risen to a level where the price no longer represents a bargain relative to ...

Read More →
📌📚 Benjamin Graham

Rebalance Periodically

We recommend that the investor's portfolio of common stocks should be tested for quality by applying suitable standards ...

Read More →
📈📚 Benjamin Graham

The Mr. Market Parable

Imagine having a partner named Mr. Market who offers to buy or sell shares at a different price every day. Sometimes his...

Read More →
💎📚 Benjamin Graham

Intrinsic Value Model

The intrinsic value of a stock is the value justified by the facts — the assets, earnings, dividends, and definite prosp...

Read More →
🛡️📚 Benjamin Graham

Margin of Safety Concept

Confronted with the need to estimate future growth, I am ready to adopt as a rule of thumb a margin of safety of about 5...

Read More →
👔📚 Benjamin Graham

Management Character

The investor cannot prudently judge management merely by the results. He must look at management's character, their hone...

Read More →
📏📚 Benjamin Graham

Discipline Over Genius

The individual investor should consistently act as an investor and not as a speculator. Investment is most intelligent w...

Read More →
🎯📚 Benjamin Graham

Patience is a Virtue

Have the courage of your knowledge and experience. If you have formed a conclusion from the facts and if you know your j...

Read More →
📌📚 Benjamin Graham

Quantitative Screening

We recommend selecting stocks using quantitative criteria: earnings-to-price yield, dividend record, balance sheet stren...

Read More →
📌📚 Benjamin Graham

Bargain Hunting Method

The true investor does his best work in a declining market, because he seeks values. Real opportunities in stocks come w...

Read More →
📌📚 Benjamin Graham

Net-Net Selection Criterion

We suggested as a minimum requirement that the total equity be at least half the total capitalization, and that total cu...

Read More →
💭📚 Benjamin Graham

Emotions Are the Enemy

Individuals who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process. The investor's chief ...

Read More →
🧠📚 Benjamin Graham

Think Independently

You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are ...

Read More →
📈📚 Benjamin Graham

Use Mr. Market Wisely

The market is there to serve you, not to guide you. It is folly to sell because the market has gone down. The real inves...

Read More →
💎📚 Benjamin Graham

Price vs Value Gap

In the short run the market is a voting machine but in the long run it is a weighing machine. Price eventually converges...

Read More →
💼📚 Benjamin Graham

The Intelligent Investor System

The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists. Investment is most successful whe...

Read More →
📌📚 Benjamin Graham

Defensive vs Enterprising

The defensive investor will place his chief emphasis on the avoidance of serious mistakes or losses. The enterprising in...

Read More →
💰🔄 Howard Marks

Price is What Matters Most

There's no asset so good that it can't become a bad investment if bought at too high a price. And there are few assets s...

Read More →
💎🔄 Howard Marks

Contrarian Value Finding

To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are avidly buying requires the greatest fortitude an...

Read More →
💎🔄 Howard Marks

Second-Level Thinking on Value

First-level thinking says, 'It's a good company; let's buy the stock.' Second-level thinking says, 'It's a good company,...

Read More →
💰🔄 Howard Marks

Quality vs Price Balance

The biggest investing errors come not from factors that are informational or analytical, but from those that are psychol...

Read More →
⚠️🔄 Howard Marks

Risk vs Quality Perception

High quality assets can be risky, and low quality assets can be safe. It's not what you buy, it's what you pay. Risk mea...

Read More →
💡🔄 Howard Marks

Know What You Don't Know

The most important thing is being aware of what you don't know. We have to practice defensive investing, since many of t...

Read More →
🧠🔄 Howard Marks

Second-Level Thinking

First-level thinking is simplistic and superficial, and just about everyone can do it. Second-level thinking is deep, co...

Read More →
📌🔄 Howard Marks

The Most Important Thing

Investing requires finding situations where the risk-reward ratio is skewed in your favor. Success depends not on what y...

Read More →
📌🔄 Howard Marks

Being Right Isn't Enough

Being right about something isn't at all synonymous with being right about it at the right time. You can be right about ...

Read More →
⚠️🔄 Howard Marks

Risk is Loss Probability

Risk means more things can happen than will happen. The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about. Everyth...

Read More →
💡🔄 Howard Marks

Understanding Market Cycles

Rule number one: most things will prove to be cyclical. Rule number two: some of the greatest opportunities for gain and...

Read More →

Browse by Topic

Explore core insights from different masters across investment topics